EPT San Remo by PokerStars.com – Day 2: A Live Timebank?

Live poker is slow, online poker is fast. That’s the way it is and, for the foreseeable future, that’s the way it always will be.

Having the ability to ponder a decision for a couple of minutes has helped many players make the correct decision in crucial spots. However, it also causes some players to delve into the tank in situations that require no more than a moment’s thought.

Whether it’s the pressure of a major tournament, or a ploy to dupe their opponents, a number of players have been taking longer than necessary to bet, raise or fold during the opening days of PokerStars’ EPT San Remo.

One of the players leading the charge against the slowcoaches is Daniel Negreanu. A tweet during the opening levels of Day 1B has prompted a wave of replies from some of the game’s most respected players.

Tom Dwan has already offered his support for the idea that a live timebank should exist in tournaments, especially for repeat offenders.

With this thought in mind we took to the casino floor during Day 2 of PokerStars’ EPT San Remo to see what some of the game’s other players felt about the idea of a poker shot clock.

 Isaac Haxton:

“I do think that people playing too slowly in live tournaments is a problem, but I’m not sure what the best solution would be. I do think, though, that a shot clock would be hard to implement. I saw someone had responded to Daniel ‘s tweet by saying that a shot clock might even slow people down because so many decisions can be made in five seconds. However, people might start taking the full 30 seconds if there was the option.”

 Yevgeniy  Timoshenko:

“My opinion is that implementing a shot clock across all major tournaments would be a bad idea. However, having certain shot clock tournaments – like at the Aussie Millions – would be a good idea because it gives players who want to play faster an opportunity to play in those events. So I think adding a shot clock for some tournaments would be good to create some variety and appease those players who want to play faster.”

 Justin Bonomo:

“I think there are certain players like Isaac Haxton and Yevgeiny Timoshenko who ruin tournaments for everyone by taking so long on every decision. The problem with the shot clock is that it doesn’t help people make those quick two second decisions faster. A lot of people will just tank for 30 seconds when they have a really easy fold. For a lot of players like myself, we play very quickly a large percentage of the time then every now and again like to use a few minutes to tank. So I think a shot clock would need some sort of time bank to make that possible.”